Look at Eric◊, then compare him to Jason◊. They look very identical to each other, the difference being that Jason has no freckles (and neither does Kim, for that matter). And it almost makes sense for Eric to have been Jason and Kim's dad; the 1991 adaptation seemed to be set between the 1930s and the 1940s (maybe after WWII ended?), while The Care Bears Movie was released in 1985.
When Tower is telling Georgia that she's taking the birthday train, he refers to it as "that load of toys and stuff over there". Plus, he doesn't seem to be in any hurry to find another locomotive to take it after Georgia has broken down. It's likely that he doesn't see the birthday train as being anywhere near as important as the other trains on the railway.